1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pool and billiard games, and more particularly, to an apparatus designed to improve accuracy in the play of pool and billiards. More specifically, the present invention relates to a billiard cue stick having a laser-aiming device mounted along the central axis of the cue stick.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For over seven hundred years one or more players have attempted to control the movement of balls about pool and billiards tables. The majority of such games require the player to either precisely position the balls at particular locations on the tables, or to place the balls within one of several "pockets" that are provided about the periphery of the table playing surface.
Having reached a peak in the 1950's, the number of pool and billiards players, as well as playing locations, entered a steady decline throughout the 1960's and 1970's. The strong economy of the mid-1980's combined with rapidly increasing numbers of young adults in their 20's and 30's saw the opening of a number of upscale pool and billiards parlors. Not only did the number of players in absolute terms increase, the demographics of such players saw a marked increase in the number of women. Initially making up no more than 10% of all players, by the end of the decade the percentage of women playing pool had increased to 33%. Billiards by then had become the third most popular sport in the country, with almost 39 million people having participated at least once during the 1980's.
Requiring only minimal levels of physical exertion, pool and billiards games permit competition and participation by people of all ages and skill levels. The challenge for all relates to the difficulty in successfully coordinating the consecutive execution of two difficult activities. The player must first determine both the desired path the ball is to follow, and at what velocity. Immediately thereafter, the player must accurately coordinate hand and arm movement so that the pool stick or "cue" impacts the pool ball at the proper location and with sufficient force as to result in propulsion of the ball in the manner desired. Further complications in this process can occur when it becomes necessary to rebound the cue ball off of a side rail cushion in order to strike another ball in the manner desired so as to direct the second ball in the proper direction and at the proper speed.
On average, only 20% to 30% of pool hall players own their own cue stick. While the majority of pool players are apparently willing to rely upon the generic, well-used cue sticks provided along the wall of most pool establishments, serious pool players have always understood the value of a good custom cue stick. The worlds largest manufacturer of quality two-piece custom billiards cues, McDermott Cue Manufacturing of Menomonee Falls, Wis., manufactures a wide variety of cue designs from a broad range of materials, including wood, vulcanized fiber, and plastics. Hard rock maple is prized for cue shafts due to its straight grain. Exotic woods, such as ebony, Brazilian rosewood, bacote, zircote, cocobolo, and tulipwood are used for decorative inlays. With prices ranging from $165 to $2,000 for the basic line of cue sticks, adding diamond or gold inlays can increase prices up to $5,000. Cue sticks manufactured by such individual craftsman as George Balabushka, Gus Szamboti, and Bill Stroud are widely considered to be collector items, with prices reaching as high as $20,000 or more.
While seemingly easy in the abstract to aim a cue ball to collide with an object ball at the correct location to cause the desired post-collision trajectories of cue and object balls, the realities of the pool table conspire to make this task not always so easy. In fact, when a shot does not create the desired results, the nature of the problem isn't always apparent. Was the shot missed as a result of incorrect aiming or was the error due to aiming correctly, but mis-addressing the cue ball with the cue stick?
When attempting to upgrade skill levels, there are times when even achieving the desired result can be detrimental. For example, an incorrect aim may, in combination with an erroneous striking of the cue ball, result in a successful shot. Here as well, two wrongs do not make a right, and such training confusion can prolong the period required to improve skills.
Prior efforts to assess initial aim and resultant billiard ball placement have included such (relatively) complex apparatus for tracking ball movement as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,676 to Van De Kop, et al. In addition to calculating the optimal path of a cue ball prior to a shot being made, it will also project a laser-generated image onto a pool table that outlines the desired path of the cue ball.
In Compton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,398, a bracket-mounted laser unit is attached to a cue stick. The bracket is adjustable, with the desired end result having the laser beam pass one-quarter to one-half inch over the cue ball. In Glazer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,075, a laser unit is more closely mounted to the shaft of a cue stick. A portion of the laser beam is directed generally parallel to the cue stick, with at least a portion intended to strike the cue ball. A beam deflector is mounted between the laser unit and the cue tip, deflecting a portion of the laser beam up and away from the cue stick. This deflected portion passes over the cue ball, parallel to the pool table, to illuminate another ball or shine upon a reflector mounted above a side cushion of the pool table.
None of these proposed solutions provide a cue stick that can be used in a conventional manner--while also providing a laser beam that accurately depicts both the cue stick location of impact as well as the resultant path of the cue ball. Not only does a bracket mount make use of the cue stick unwieldy, it requires careful orientation of the round cue stick to assure the laser beam mechanism generates an accurate illuminated pathway.